Download Bios - Eugene O`Neill Theater Center

2016 National Music Theater Conference
Writer Bios
David H. Bell
The Museum of Broken Relationships
David H. Bell has served as Artistic Director of the Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. and Associate Artistic
Director to Kenny Leon at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, and is currently the Artistic Director of the
American Music Theatre Project and Director of the Music Theatre Program at Northwestern University. As
director, choreographer, or author, David has received 44 of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award nominations
(winning 11), 5 Carbonell nominations (Florida), as well as the Dramalogue Award (LA), the Helen Hayes Award
(D.C.), and numerous awards in Atlanta. His musical Hot Mikado (book, additional lyrics) was nominated for the
Olivier award (London's West End). David has written and directed Cowboys and Lawyers (Goodspeed Opera
House) and The Good War (Northlight Theatre), both with Craig Carnelia; Fanny Brice (Maltz Jupiter, Asolo
Rep); Matador (Coconut Grove Playhouse); The Bowery Boys (Marriott Theatre); The Rules of Love (AMTP); Don’t
Stop the Carnival (Coconut Grove Playhouse); Hot Mikado (Ford's Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Pittsburgh CLO,
The Alliance Theatre); The Theatre of Dreams (Bridgewater Hall , Manchester England); and Die Schone und das
das Biest (European Tour). He directed the world premieres of Murder for Two (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre,
HERO, Marriott Theatre, and Asolo Rep), Elmer Gantry (Ford’s Theatre), Peggy Sue Got Married (Marriott
Theatre), and many others. He has worked on original musicals with Cy Coleman, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffett,
Herman Wouk, Joe Kinosian, Kellen Blair, Russel Baker, George Stiles, and others.
Daniel Green
The Museum of Broken Relationships
Daniel Green is a composer/lyricist and music director. He was the associate conductor of Rocky on Broadway
and has also played or conducted on Broadway for several other shows. As a composer, Daniel is a graduate
of the BMI Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop. His show The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, written with
Lezlie Wade, was presented at the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop for Stephen Schwartz, with guest
panelists Stephen Flaherty and Dick Scanlan. It was also showcased at Bound for Broadway with Liz Callaway,
the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, and the Toronto Summerworks Festival, and had a reading at the
American Music Theatre Project. Other honors include a NAMT grant from the National Fund for New Musicals,
a retreat at Running Deer Musical Theatre Lab, a Weston Playhouse New Musical Award nomination, and a
feature in NEO at the York Theatre. Other composing credits include Fanny Brice (Asolo Rep), A Midsummer
Night's Dream (Northwestern University), and Twelfth Night (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival).
Zakiyyah Alexander
GIRL Shakes Loose
Zakiyyah Alexander is a writer for stage and television. Her plays include: 10 Things To Do Before I Die (Second
Stage), Sick? (Summer Play Festival), The Etymology of Bird (Central Park Summerstage, Hip Hop Theater
Festival, Providence Black Repertory Theatre), Blurring Shine (Market Theater, Johannesburg; NY International
Fringe Festival), Sweet Maladies (Brava Arts Center, Rucker Theatre, Bay Area Playwrights Festival), something
new (commissioned by Philadelphia Theater Company), and (900). A recipient of a Joyce Award for the
development of the new musical, GIRL Shakes Loose with composer Imani Uzuri, featuring the poetry of Sonia
Sanchez. Other awards include: Helen Merrill Emerging Playwriting Award, ACT New Play Award/Lorraine
Hansberry Prize, Stellar Network Award, Theodore Ward Prize, Jackson Phelan Award, Van Lier Award at New
Dramatists, Drama League New Directors/New Works, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award. Education:
Yale School of Drama (MFA in playwriting). Most recently, a writer for the television show Grey’s Anatomy.
Imani Uzuri
GIRL Shakes Loose
Composer and vocalist Imani Uzuri’s work has been called “stunning” by New York Magazine. She travels
internationally creating concerts, experimental theater, performance art, and sound installations in
venues/festivals including Joe's Pub, The Kitchen, Whitney Museum, Central Park Summer Stage, Performa
Biennial, and MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). The Village Voice says, “Imani Uzuri is a constant
surprise...seamlessly combining jazz, classical, country, and blues motifs into highly personalized
compositions.” Uzuri is currently composing a new musical, GIRL Shakes Lose with book by playwright Zakiyyah
Alexander (featuring the poetry of Sonia Sanchez). She recently premiered her first orchestral composition,
Placeless, at Ecstatic Music Festival and was subsequently named by The New Yorker as one of the emerging
“female composers edg[ing] forward.” Uzuri was a 2015 Park Avenue Armory Artist-In-Residence, and she is
currently composing her first opera, Hush Arbor, as a 2015 MAP Fund grantee. The New York Times has called
Uzuri’s music “stirring.” During Spring 2016, Uzuri will mark her Lincoln Center American Songbook debut.
www.imaniuzuri.com.
Daniel Zaitchik
Darling Grenadine
Daniel Zaitchik is a composer-playwright, singer-songwriter, and sometimes-actor. His musicals include Picnic
at Hanging Rock (book/music/lyrics), Darling Grenadine (book/music/lyrics), Ula (book/music/lyrics), and
Suprema (with playwright Jordan Harrison). His work has been developed at Lincoln Center Theater, Ars Nova,
New Dramatists, and the National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. As a singersongwriter, Zaitchik has played NYC/LA venues including Joe's Pub, 54 Below, Canal Room, Rockwood Music
Hall, Room 5, and The Bootleg Theater. His albums include Summer of the Soda Fountain Girls (with his band
Blue Bottle Collection) and Bad Dancer. As an actor, Zaitchik has worked at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan
Theater Club, Cherry Lane, Williamstown Theater Festival, Barrington Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Repertory
Theatre of St. Louis, Intiman Theatre, and others.